Holidays
For some, Playstation 3 release worth braving the elements
By Joseph Gidjunis
Staff Writer
Playstation fever is high
This sort of altruism was lost to the impulse of owning a Playstation right here, right now.
If anyone thinks the lines were bad here, Rob Jordan, 30, made the trip from Baltimore. As second in line at the Best Buy in north Salisbury, this was the only line he could get in by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
He trailed three 19-year-old sophomores from Salisbury University who decided to cut class and pass the time by playing Battleship and a host of other games during the three-day, two-night adventure.
Neither the winds whipping around the big box retailer at more than 20 mph, nor the odd looks from other shoppers fazed Jeff Cernik or his roommates, Nick Kendall and Brad Brown. They all plan on making tidy profit from the resale.
"We need the money for presents and beer," Cernik said after saying he wouldn't sell for less than $1,500.
"We are a society now that needs it immediately. If it is considered cool by the powers that be, whoever those powers that be are ... we have to have it right now, and the smart marketers are playing on that," said Peter Shankman, president of the Geek Factory, a New York-based public relations firm.
Chris Boyce fits here. As one of the few true gamers amongst the business opportunists, Boyce said he would be lost without the new game system.
"I'm going to be worried to death that I'm missing out on games I don't have," the 19-year-old from Laurel said. "This will replace PS2 but I'll still keep it. I'll probably take it to my mom's."
It's also important to remember what undying love can buy.
"A lot are also buying it for little Jimmy so little Jimmy is the coolest kid in his first grade class," Shankman said. "Never underestimate what a father will do to make their kid cool."
That's why Debbie and Carlos Mills made the trip to Circuit City armed only their folding chairs and companionship. At least they made their teenage sons, Ryan, 18, and Brandon, 15, pay for it.
"I think every year it gets worse," Debbie said. "You have to start sooner."
Expect lines this weekend, too, for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii, pronounced we, which comes out Sunday.
